Hayloft VG23

[kiwi]

The first time I got on a sailboat the guy said "here take this" gave me the tiller and off we went. When we got back and tied up to the mooring he asked me how long I had been sailing for... Well about an hour

I did a little more as a crew on various friends boats. Lots on a Kelt 5.50 micro class. We regularly were faster than larger boats which meant we got invited over for drinks a lot when we arrived in a port.

Then I needed a boat of my own so I bought a 4.6 metre catamaran. The first day I went out with just the main because of untrained crew (ex wife). Scary how fast we went thinking back. My first regatta I finished 38th of 120 boats - I refused to cross the line in one of the races because I wasn't pleased with losing my compass over board and losing a heap of places... Yes I was leading... I am a light wind sailer. Mostly because my cat had badly designed kickup rudder mechanism that gave me lots of problems in heavy weather (got to spend 15 minutes lifting the thing back on its feet at Cap de la Chèvre).

So I guess that I am a natural. I put that down to being raised on a farm - you learn real quick which direction the wind is coming from when you are out shooting rabbits

The only things to learn are keep your head down and don't run into other boats

Tony

[shawnk]

.....and it's always a good idea to know how deep the water is and how deep you draft...Never let those two dimensions get too close to being the same!!

[kiwi]

.....and it's always a good idea to know how deep the water is and how deep you draft...Never let those two dimensions get too close to being the same!!

Ah you heard about the time we ran aground in the dark

Lucky us, the Kelt was a centre board version We knew the shoal was there but we didn't have a tide table with us...

Tony

[shawnk]

we went on a weekend cruise and hit bottom, in the dark. our problem was, we were in really shallow water and didn't realize it. we went in at a good heel, so we didn't hit until she sat up!!! we spent the night right there. the next morning the tide came in and we were able to drift off. that's the main problem with floridas gulf coast. five miles off shore, it's still only 4 feet deep if you're not in a channel. lesson learned.

[shawnk]

i forgot....i was going to tell andrew...while you're not building through the winter, fly on down here. we have a sweet 25' bayfield we can go out on. you can learn some basic sailing in a very stable boat. be more than happy to show you some things. i'm by no means a pro, but i can show you a few things.

[andrew lucking]

i forgot....i was going to tell andrew...while you're not building through the winter, fly on down here.

Shawn that is a very generous offer. Thank you. :!: I would be thrilled to be able to take you up on it. My paying job seems to be piling up for the winter but ya never know...

I've said it before - this group is fantastic! The knowledge, time and pretty much everything else folks are sharing here is mind-blowing.

Cheers,
A.

[jasonmcintosh]

The boat that I was talking about having some great looking rigging is the "Alexa's Rocket" poster boat. I don't know much about sailing, but the guy who buld that boat sure looks like does:

http://www.bateau2.comAR15/index.htm

This is off topic, but I just saw that someone finished a R550 Randonneur!!!

That boat looks really nice. I wish he had shown pictures of the building process on this site.

jason

[andrew lucking]

Here's a "very-little-to-report" progress report:

Stringers and frames are installed. Half of them are all fg taped as per spec, the remainder are glued in-place. Probably a bit more work doing it this way but I wanted to be sure to get all the frames in before it got too cold - didn't want to take any chances with the hull "changing shape" over the winter. September was awesome weather wise up here and I wasted it working at the bill paying job.

Anyhow, I spent Sunday covering the hull with a couple of tarps. So now what am I gonna do with my copious amounts of free time? No hockey, no boat...

Cheers,
A.

[DELIRIUM]

"Anyhow, I spent Sunday covering the hull with a couple of tarps. So now what am I gonna do with my copious amounts of free time? No hockey, no boat... "

a sugestion: Talking sailing on gulf St-Laurent and may be start a "flotille" of V23 in Quebec !

If you want to know what i mean by "talking sailing" visit my web site a http://www.petitdelire.com

[kiwi]

If you want to know what i mean by "talking sailing" visit my web site a http://www.petitdelire.com

Monsieur je vous salue bien bas!

Tony